Three days after slaughtering his defenders for the draw with St Johnstone Steven Gerrard will turn to Nikola Katic and Connor Goldson to secure a future in the Europa League.
Following the 2-2 draw at St Johnstone the rookie Ibrox boss again threw his players under a bus, for good measure he was counting down the days until Filip Helander was available again after almost three months out injured.
In future years Gerrard’s comments will be studied as an example of how not to manage footballers.
Katic was at fault for both of St Johnstone’s goals but despite having George Edmundson sitting on the bench Gerrard made three substitutions with the Croatian starlet left on for the full 90 minutes.
From yesterday’s media conference in Braga The Sun reports:
I have spoken to Niko, yeah. He is a good type, the ultimate professional, and to be fair to the kid, for his age he is one who will take accountability. He will stand up and will never hide. If he’s ever made a mistake, his hand goes straight up. Criticism is part of being a Rangers player. The praise is good when you score the winner at Celtic Park.
You have the reverse, as people think you are the best thing on the planet and you lap the adulation up. I think he enjoyed that, so you need to take the rough with the smooth. That’s the life of a footballer. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it isn’t. When it’s up, it’s up. When it’s down, you need to work even harder, reset and regroup.
Braga go into tonight’s match trailing 3-2 after chucking away a two goal lead in the first leg at Ibrox.
